With more than 200 clubs on campus, there is no dearth of opportunities for studentsto connect with a cause. A few focus oncareers and internship opportunitiesand some on environmental and social-justice issues, but only one “fills the gapas a single entity that brings all of theseinterests together.”Professor Neil Boyd, management, istalking about Net Impact, the Bucknellchapter of a national organization forwhich he serves as the adviser. “It’s likeLinkedIn for professions related tosustainability,” he says.

During Net Impact’s four years on
campus, Marissa Graham ’ 16 and

Jennifer Ohn ’ 16 have been a driving
force for the chapter that has about 50
loosely affiliated members. A strong
executive committee organizes events
that have wide appeal.

“We’re trying to align social and
environmental causes and collaborate
with other groups,” such as Habitat for
Humanity, with which Net Impact held
a brunch this spring, says Graham. They
discussed how to incorporate volunteer
efforts with a sustainable-business
career, she says.

Last fall, Net Impact organized aforum for social justice and environ-mental groups “to brainstorm aboutour goals and how we could co-sponsorevents,” says Graham. “We’re focusedon how we can build a strong networkand make a positive impact environ-mentally, socially and financially oncampus and throughout our careers.”Among their activities have been fieldtrips to Weis Markets in Selinsgrove tomeet with the sustainability managerand to a local farm owned by ProfessorDavid Kristjanson-Gural, economics,and his wife Kathy. “We picked apples,made applesauce and learned aboutorganic farming,” says Graham. “TheKristjanson-Gurals are entrepreneurs.”On-campus events have included atalk by Pete Kadens ’00, “who worksin solar in Chicago,” says Graham. “Hejoined a chapter of Net Impact in gradschool and helped me get an internshipin renewable energy.”While many Net Impact membersare managing for sustainability majors,Ohn says there also are environmentalstudies, biology and even neurosciencemajors like herself.

“I first got interested in Net Impact
because it focuses on global health and
sustainable measures,” Ohn says. “It’s
interconnected. We think about how
business makes an impact sustainability-wise. It has to do with nutrition and
making a better environment.”

Sparking ConnectionsBy Sherri Kimmel

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A POWERBALL’S CHANCE

Maxim interviewed Professor Matt Bailey,
management, about January’s record
Powerball jackpot. Bailey, who studies
strategies that lottery designers use to
drive ticket sales, said unprecedented
jackpots and lottery fever are the new
norm. “It is more about our tendencies
to focus on outcomes ($1.4 billion) and
ignore the actual likelihood of the event
( 1 in 292 million),” Bailey said.

FILMING FOREST ELEPHANTS
The Associated Press spotlighted the
discovery of rare forest elephants in
war-torn South Sudan by Professor
DeeAnn Reeder, biology, and her partners
at Flora and Fauna International. Reeder’s
team used game cameras to verify the
presence of the critically endangered
elephants and other elusive creatures
in the nation’s little-studied Western
equatorial state.

UNCOMFORTABLE CHOICE

In advance of the Iowa Caucus, The
Christian Science Monitor quoted
Professor Chris Ellis, political science,
about the then-surging popularity of anti-establishment GOP candidates Donald
Trump and Ted Cruz. Ellis suggested Cruz
is so disliked among his own party it could
push some to support Trump. “It’s leading
serious people to do things that they
wouldn’t otherwise do,” Ellis said.

CHINA’S NEW SILK ROAD

CNBC interviewed Professor Zhiqun
Zhu, political science and international
relations, about China’s ambitious plan
to revitalize the ancient Silk Road trade
route, a plan somewhat at odds with the
United States’ own aims in Afghanistan.

Zhu, director of Bucknell’s China
Institute, said that, factoring in inflation,
China’s investment could be as much as